Rotary lawn sprinkler



Dec. 2, 1958 2,862,763

D. o. NORLAND ROTARY LAWN SPRINKLER Filed May 14. 1956 MAI/EL 0. Noel/1x10 INVENTOR.

AGE/VT Unite.

This invention relates to rotary sprinklers for lawns and gardens, and more particularly relates to means for causing such sprinklers to rotate intermittently through successive short arcs.

In my co-pending application, Serial No. 352,738, filed May 4, 1953, now matured into Patent'2,745,698, I have disclosed a sprinkler actuated by a whirling hammer which strikes upon an anvil, the force of the blow causing the sprinkler head to revolve through a short angle. The hammer is mounted upon a disc which is caused to rotate by impingement thereon of a stream of water. The hammer is pivoted and swings out centrifugally towards the anvil, which results both in a strong impact and in the hammer recoiling around its pivot to a position in which it rna y clear the anvilwhile still whirling, again gathering speed and centrifugal extension for another blow upon the anvil. The invention disclosed in my said co-pending application was, in turn, an improvement upon that disclosed in Patent 1,950,512 issued to my father, Clarence Norland, in which an unbalanced disk, driven by the water stream, worked through reactive and'vibrational force to cause the sprinkler head to slowly rotate.

In my present invention the sprinkler head is again caused to rotate by blows of a hammer mounted upon a disc whirled by a stream of water, but the hammer is not pivoted and is not actuated by centrifugal force. I have found that in some installations grass clippings or mud may foul the pivot on which a centrifugally swinging hammer is mounted, and either prevent the hammer from retracting from its orbit past the anvil, thus stopping rotation of the sprinkler, or prevent extension of the hammer into that orbit, thus causing continuous instead of intermittent rotation of the sprinkler. 'Accordingly I have provided a hammer having a fixed position upon a water-Whirled disc, and have provided that the disc be raised and allowed to fall *by a cam-action in each revolution, thus causing the hammer to rise to the plane of the anvil at its instant of greatest velocity and impact and then to fall and to pass under the anvil as a new revolution begins.

It is an object of my invention to provide an intermittently rotating lawn sprinkler which is not dependent upon either unbalanced vibratory forces or uncertain centrifugal forces for its rotation, but which responds to a more positive cam-action to effect revolution.

Another object of my invention is to eliminate unnecessary moving parts in a hammer-type rotary sprinkler, thus effecting economies in manufacture.

In the accompanying drawing, illustrative of a presently preferred form of my invention, Fig. 1 is an elevational view of my improved sprinkler, showing the whirling disc in its low position and the hammer having just passed under the anvil;

Fig. 2 is a similar elevational view showing the whirling disc in raised position and the hammer about to strike the anvil;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view on the line of P Fatented Dec. 2, 1958.

section 3-3 of Fig. 1, and man enlarged scale, parts covered by the whirling disc being shown in phantom,

the line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

Having reference now to the details of the drawing, I have shown a sprinkler having a body 10 which is revolvably mounted on a hose coupling 11. Thebody 10 has two jet nozzles, a main nozzle 12 which carries the stream which it is desired to spread, and an inclined auxiliary nozzle13. The body 10 may also be provided with anaccess port, for cleaning or adjustment, closed by a plug 14. p

Mounted revolvably on a post 15, which rises from the body 10 at one side of the auxiliary 'nozzle 13, is a disc 16. The post 15 extends upward beyond a sleeve 17 on the disc 16 and is capped by a nut 18, the disc thus being vertically slidable on the post 15, as well as rotatable, for a distance limited by the top of the sleeve 17 and the bottom 'of the nut 18. The disc 16 has a plurality of serrations 20 on its lower face, preferably at an angle to the radii of the disc so that a jet of water issuing from the inclined auxiliary nozzle 13 will impinge upon the serrations 20 as they are about to pass out of the trajectory of the jet and will then impinge substantially perpendicularly to the faces'of the serrations, acting upon them to whirl the disc with the maximum of force. The serrations 20 are not all at the same level, but are scored in an inclined track 21, like a cam-track. The track 21 extends farthest down from the plane of the disc 16 at 22 (see Fig. 4) and approaches the plane of the disc at 23, a shoulder 24 intervening between 22 and 23 of a height approximately equal to the distance it is desired to raise the disc vertically on the post 15. A jet of water from the auxiliary nozzle 13 will therefore impinge upon the serrations 20 at 22 when the disc 16 is at the top of its vertical movement with the same angle and the same force as it impinges on the serrations 20 at 23 when the disc is at the bottom of its vertical movement.

To cause the disc 16 to rise and fall as it whirls, the disc is provided with a circular cam 25 on its lower surface. The cam 25 is in engagement with a lug 26 which acts as a cam rider, disposed on the body 10 adjacent to the auxiliary nozzle 13, and the shoulder 27 of the cam 25 is spaced angularly from the shoulder 24 of the track 21 so that at the instant the shoulder 27 passes over the lug 26 and lets the disc fall, the shoulder 24 will pass through the trajectory of the water-jet from the auxiliary nozzle 13 and the jet will immediately impinge on the serrations 20 at the point 23.

Extending beyond the periphery of the disc 16 and secured in a lug 29 on the upper surface of the disc is a hammer 30 which, when the disc revolves, strikes upon an anvil 31 mounted in a lug 32 carried by'the body 10. The horizontal position of the anvil 30 is at one side of the axis of rotation of the body 10. The vertical position of the anvil 31 is at the level at which the hammer 30 is rotating when the disc 16 is at the top of its movement as caused by the cam 25. The angular position of the hammer 30 with respect to the shoulder 27 of the cam 25 is such that the shoulder 27 will pass over the lug 26 and permit the disc 16 to descend just before the hammer 30 strikes the anvil 31. The hammer 30 must have free vertical movement at the instant it strikes the anvil 31, so that it may descend and pass under the anvil but the angular allowance for such freedom of movement may be a matter of only a few degrees.

In operation, my improved sprinkler rotates intermittently in short arcs of rotation, responsively to the impact of the hammer 30 upon the anvil 31. Rotation of the disc 16 hearing thehammer 30 is effected by impingement of water from the auxiliary jet, 13 upon the serrations 20, and this impingement is of the same force and effect whether the disc is at the top of. its vertical travel or at the bottom thereof, because of the inclination of'the track 21. The cam 25 lifts the disc 16 as the disc rotates, and thus lifts the hammer 30 into the plane of the anvil 31. As the hammer closely approaches the anvil, the cam 25 ceases to hold the hammer at the anvil level, but the momentum of rotation is such that the hammer continues on the high-level path for the short distance necessary, and strikes the anvil. Striking the anvil, the hammer knocks the body through a short are to water a new radius of lawn, and then drops by gravity. Water impingement on the serrations 20 at once starts another rotation of the disc 16.

The only moving parts are the body 10 moving with respect to the hose coupling 11, and the disc 16 with its serrations 20, cam 25, and hammer 30, moving with respect to the body 10. This structure has proven to be relatively free from stoppage resulting from either a clogged hammer pivot or insufficient vibration.

Modifications of the described structure will occur to those skilled in the art, and are deemed to be included within the scope of this invention whenever they fall within the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A rotary lawn sprinkler comprising a hose coupling, a rotatable sprinkler body member having a jet ,nozzle operatively associated therewith mounted on said coupling, a disc member rotatably mounted on said sprinkler body member for rotation about a substantially vertical axis and having a hammer on a peripheral portion thereof, an anvil on said sprinkler body mem ber, a cam concentric with the axis of said disc member on one of said members and a cam rider on the other member engaged by said cam for imparting limited axial movement to said disc member, said hammer and said anvil being in the same plane when the disc member is in its uppermost axial position, and jet means on said body member operatively associated with said disc member for turning the same.

2. A rotary lawn sprinkler as set forth in claim 1, in which said disc has serrations on one of its surfaces adapted to be impinged'upon by said jet means, said serrations being on a circular track having an inclination with respect to said surface corresponding to the inclination of said cam, whereby said serrations maintain a substantially constant distance from said jet means at all axial positions of said disc.

3. In a rotary lawn sprinkler, the structure set forth in claim 1, in which said cam and said cam rider have sharp shoulders which pass beyond one another and release said disc to the action of gravity as said hammer closely approaches said anvil.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,847,763 Keys Mar. 1, 1932 1,906,382 Keys May 2, 1933 1,950,512 Norland Mar. 13, 1934 2,212,008 Buelna Aug. 20, 1940 2,302,040 Lyndon Nov. 17, 1942 2,582,158 Porter Jan. 8, 1952 

